Little Wonders
by LuvStarWars
Summary: Louse, your insides are mutating." "Excuse me?" Cute NeuroXYako drabble-turned story. Updated!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: Just a drabble, and one I'm very proud of too for some reason. *shrugs* Oh well, enjoy! ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro, and blah blah blah.......**

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It all started one day when Yako entered the apartment, closed the door behind her, and suddenly had her face grabbed by a large purple hand with claws. Then she heard the most bizarre string of words ever spoken to her in her life.

"Louse, your insides are mutating."

Yako just blinked at him.

"Excuse me?"

"You have two hearts."

"I _what?!"_

Neuro put the tip of his middle finger over her heart. "One here…" He moved his hand down and poked her hard in the stomach. "…and one here."

It took a long minute for the reality to suddenly hit Yako like a train, but when it did, her mind went completely blank. Her hand, shaking slightly, moved to her stomach, which was still a little sore from Neuro poking it so hard, but which also felt very sick. Was it a happy sort of feeling or something else? Fear? She wasn't sure. Now her mind was racing, so fast she was getting a headache just standing there. Neuro was saying something about how she was such a pig and ate such strange human foods it was no wonder she was mutating, but Yako could barely hear him. She clutched her shirt over her stomach.

"Right here…" she mumbled hoarsely, and then dashed from the room.

Neuro was on her in less than a second. Yako felt the grip on her head from behind, and suddenly she was lying on the ground on her back with the demon crouching over her.

"And where do you think _you're_ going, mutant?" he demanded, that sadistic grin plastered on his face.

Was that going to be a new nickname for her? Yako ignored it and spouted frantically, "I just have to go to the store for something!"

"Perhaps your microscopic brain can't process this fact, but more eating will only make things worse," the demon announced.

Yako glared at him – something she was able to get away with now that they were actually married (the human still didn't know how that had happened) - and stated, almost coldly, "I'm not buying _food_, Neuro, I'm buying… an appliance."

She couldn't tell him. Could she really tell him? That was a stupid question, he would figure it out sooner or later, that was inevitable. But what would his reaction be? What if he didn't like it? What if he was angry, or worse? How could this _possibly_, in _any_ dimension, work out?!

There was really no doubt in her mind that she was pregnant. Neuro's enhanced demon hearing was a far greater instrument than any store-bought test she could take. If he'd heard a heartbeat, then it was really there. Yako really didn't need to go to the store, and she really didn't plan to. She just needed a quiet moment to think, just for a minute.

"What sort of appliance would this be, louse?" Neuro asked, voice heavy with exasperation.

"It… the, um… the toaster is outdated, we need a new one." She winced as Neuro's grip on the back of her head tightened a little. She couldn't hope to deceive this demon.

"You're lying to me, Yako," he whispered dangerously. "What are you trying to hide?" He paused, grip tightening a little bit more as if to convince her to spill whatever her secret was, his emerald eyes boring into her deep brown ones, waiting for her to respond. "You're shaking," he added after a moment of silence, his hand suddenly loosening behind her head. He paused again, then frowned at her. "And crying. What are you afraid of, louse?" He seemed far more irritated than concerned, but Yako knew for a fact he was irritated because he didn't understand and not because he didn't care. If there was one thing she knew about Neuro, it was that he _did_ care. A lot.

Still Yako hesitated, trying to stop the tears from falling but entirely unable to. This was crazy, insane! She was happy, incredibly, endlessly happy, but she was also frightened. Neuro wasn't human, who knew what he would think. And what about the baby, what sort of creature could the offspring of a demon and a human be like? And the pregnancy, too, would it be different from normal human pregnancies? What might happen to her? What might happen to the baby? Would it be hurt or deformed? It scared Yako out of her wits to think what could happen. She couldn't get the words past the painful lump in her throat.

"Are you injured?" Neuro demanded, losing his patience. "Do you _know_ what's wrong with you? Is the sprouting of extra intestines a common human disease?"

This made Yako laugh in spite of herself. "It's not a disease!" she cried. "There's nothing wrong! It's… It's… It's a miracle, Neuro!" For good or bad, she didn't know, but it was a miracle nonetheless.

Neuro blinked at her. "Then what are you crying for, louse?!"

She would tell him. She had to, there really was no choice. How to word it though…

"Well, I'm… I'm just happy! I'm… we're… I'm… That heartbeat… It's not my heart that's beating, Neuro."

"You ate a beating heart? Really, louse, eating bizarre filth like that…"

"_No_, Neuro, I didn't _eat_ anything, it's just… It's a baby's heart. I'm…" She took a deep breath. "Pregnant."

There was a very long pause where Yako began to feel very sick, all her fears rising to the front of her mind as she watched Neuro's face for his reaction, trying to crush her happiness. The demon didn't move. His face didn't even twitch. Every growing second Yako felt her heart sink further and further into her toes. He must be angry, or disappointed. She had no way of knowing how a pregnancy was viewed in Hell. What if it was considered a curse? Surely such a miserable place as Hell would see the blessing of a child as a bad thing. Her breathing began to grow shallow as she realized what she was truly afraid of.

What if Neuro didn't love her anymore?

Suddenly, the demon stood up. He turned his back to her and started walking away. Yako felt chills run through her as horror gripped her. She struggled to see through her tears, which were no longer happy, so that she could stand up. Her legs felt like jelly as she found her feet.

"Neuro-"

He spun around, his eyes burning like green fire. Grabbing Yako by the shoulders, he pushed her back into the wall, pinning her there. For a terrible second, real fear shot through the human as their eyes locked. Then Neuro shocked her even further by dropping his grip to her waist and falling to his knees in front of her. Very slowly, he turned his head, and pressed his ear against her stomach. His fingers tightened on her shirt, his whole body went stiff, then relaxed as he sighed. Was he listening to the baby's heartbeat? Yako felt her own heart settle back into her chest and beat pleasantly against her ribcage as relief flooded through her. Everything was all right, and as Neuro planted a kiss on her stomach, then went back to listening to what she knew was the beautiful melody of a heartbeat, something told her that everything _would_ be all right as well.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes: Well this took me long enough, haha. Sorry about that, I've been extremely busy. About the chapter, I got a request to rewrite the first chapter in Neuro's point of view, and the thought really intrigued me, so I did it. I think my favorite part of writing this chapter was just talking about how they live, about Yako's shopping and Neuro's various antics and such. I like writing wacky domestic life stories, what can I say? XD Hope you enjoy!**

**I had some people ask to write how Neuro and Yako got to where they are, being married and all, but I don't want to do it for this story. Maybe when I'm done with this series, I'll go back and write about the NeuYako dating years, haha. ^_^**

**Disclaimer: Why YES, yes I DO own MTNN!! I OWN IT ALL, - *door gets busted down* *police swarm in* NO, I'M SORRY, I TAKE IT BACK!! I DON'T OWN ANYTHING, JUST PLEASE DON'T ARREST MEEEEE!!! TT^TT**

**LOL Now that that's overwith...**

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He'd heard it for the first time that morning as Yako was sitting on the couch, watching the news intently for a mystery. Neuro lay across the couch, his head resting in her lap, his cheek pressed against her stomach and his eyes closed, just listening to his wife's steady breathing and the news reporter's voice in the background. Then he heard something else.

Adjusting himself so that he could hear better, Neuro pressed his ear against Yako's stomach, tuning everything else out. There it was again, weak and slow, but it was still there, a sound Neuro had heard enough to know what it was, even though this new rhythm was rather alien to him. It was a heartbeat.

"Huh… odd…" he hummed to himself, confused. Normally the only sound he could hear coming from Yako's stomach was the incessant growling it made whenever she was hungry. And she was always hungry. But this was no announcement of hunger. This was, without a doubt, a heartbeat.

He was just about to speak up when Yako glanced at the clock and let out a wail.

"That late already?!" she cried, leaping up from the couch and upsetting Neuro's head on her lap. "I should have started off two hours ago!!"

Neuro didn't bother glancing up at the clock, which read 11:43 a.m. Oh yes, it was Sunday, grocery shopping day. It was routine. Every Sunday Yako left at about 10 in the morning, and didn't return home until 3 in the afternoon, when she came stumbling in with several cartloads of groceries. Though Neuro didn't particularly enjoy spending the better part of the day home alone, he had very little interest in joining his wife at the store. He usually found some way to amuse himself anyway.

Watching as his wife scrambled from the living room to the kitchen for her grocery list (a short novel to the untrained eye), Neuro attempted to refocus his attentions to the new sound, but he could no longer make it out. It had been so faint and irregular to begin with, perhaps he had only imagined it? The demon highly doubted that, but since he couldn't hear the heartbeat anymore he was forced to assume that to be the case. Settling back down onto the sofa, he went back to listening to the voice of the news reporter.

"I'll be back late!" Yako announced, skidding to a halt in front of the couch and stooping to give her husband a kiss. "Please don't destroy the house again," she added with a wry grin, her usual departure plea after she'd returned one Sunday evening to find the house turned inside out because Neuro had gotten bored and decided to redecorate. Luckily she'd taken the hint and the two of them had redone the whole house, but Yako had refused to go through the same thing for at least another ten years.

Neuro just smirked up at her. "I think I'd like a pet-" he began, almost like a threat, but Yako cut him off.

"NO INDOOR DEMON-ANIMAL ZOOS!! It took me a week to scrape that slime off the kitchen floor!"

Neuro gave her his signature blank smile, and Yako gave him one last peck on the cheek before rushing for the door. The demon listened to her retreating footsteps until they were safely across the street to the supermarket, then eventually fell asleep to the same rhythm as it roamed the isles one-by-one.

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There!

Neuro sat bolt upright on the couch. He'd heard the noise again. It was slightly stronger now than it had been that morning. Glancing at the clock, Neuro noted with slight disgust that he'd slept through the whole day, and from the sound of her approaching footsteps, Yako was at the check-out line and would be arriving in less than ten minutes - and he had not caused any mischief for her to come home to! But all thoughts of immature pranks left his mind as his ears registered the sound.

He _knew_ he hadn't been imagining it. Dark would be the day when the great genius Nougami Neuro began hallucinating! But then what could be the cause of it? Perhaps something the louse ate? That sounded plausible. Though he'd never cared to taste it himself, thanks to his 'pig' wife he had on numerous occasions witnessed some of the more bizarre things humans consumed. And he was also pretty sure that he'd heard of a place where a still-beating heart was considered a delicacy. Though it didn't make sense for the heart to _remain_ beating all day…

There was only one thing left to do then. Interrogate the louse-wife.

As if on cue, the door opened and Yako marched in, five bags of food in her arms. The rest of the shopping was waiting outside in the driveway in the form of seven bulging carts. Neuro still remembered the day when they'd first moved in to this house, conveniently right across the street from the supermarket (Yako had seen to that). The store clerks at first wouldn't allow Yako to take the carts out of the store's parking lot, but when they saw just how much food she bought on a weekly basis and how difficult it would be for her to carry all those bags across the street herself, they decided to make an exception. And no one dared to attempt to snatch some of the carts (each one a virtual free feast on wheels) while Yako was carrying bags inside. Neuro still chuckled when he recalled having to drag an irate Yako off the one (and only) poor soul who had tried. He'd waited at least five minutes before intervening though. It had made him proud as only he could be to see her attack the unsuspecting creature with such ferocity.

This, Neuro knew, was only the beginning of the unloading, and if he wanted to get any straight answers out of her without any whining to go with it, Neuro was better off waiting until she was done. He pretended to be asleep, smirking to himself as he heard Yako give a great sigh of relief as she discovered that the house had survived another Sunday unscathed.

A half hour later the last bags were brought in, and Yako shut the door with a contented sigh. The sound was cut short by her demon husband's scaly purple hand snatching her face and squishing it.

"Louse, your insides are mutating," Neuro stated matter-of-factly. It was the only thing he could think of, after all, that would cause such a bizarre heartbeat-sound to emanate from Yako's stomach.

Yako just blinked at him through his fingers.

"Excuse me?" she demanded, her muffled voice sounding thoroughly bewildered.

"You have two hearts," Neuro explained, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I _what?!"_

Neuro released her head and returned the glove to his clawed hand, returning it to human-size. Then he held his middle finger over her heart.

"One there," he said, and then gave what was meant to be a playful poke to her stomach. The heartbeat there suddenly jumped, the already bizarre rhythm going completely out of whack, as if in response to the touch. "…and one there," Neuro added, staring intently at the spot he'd just touched, as the heartbeat settled back down again.

Very odd indeed. Yako must have eaten something truly horrible for this to happen. A part of Neuro was genuinely concerned now for his wife's safety and health, but a greater part still wanted to poke fun at Yako's supernatural eating habits. And after all, humans had organs removed in surgery all the time, right? If this mutant whateveritwas became an issue, it could simply be removed, and Yako would be placed on a special diet that would drive her insane, while her husband was with her every step of the way to laugh in her face. What was there to worry about? And like any good, caring, responsible husband, he would reassure his wife of that.

"I've told you from the beginning you were a hopeless pig," he began dramatically, wagging a finger at said hopeless pig. "It seems that all that ever goes through your mind is food, food, food. And not even tasteful food either. It seems like nowadays you'll stuff whatever into that black hole you call a mouth. Why it's no wonder you're becoming some horrible mutant. Oh, whatever happened to the ugly little monster I called my wife??"

So certain was he in the lightness of the matter, and so consumed in his dramatic monologue, that Neuro didn't even notice Yako go as pale as a sheet and clutch her stomach. Only when she mumbled something under her breath did he care to pause. Then, suddenly, she made a break for the bathroom.

Neuro wasn't going to let her go anywhere now. From the quick glance he'd gotten of Yako's face just before she ran, he'd seen a look of revelation and abject terror in her brown eyes. So she knew what exactly was going on then, and from the looks of it, it wasn't good. The time for interrogation had arrived.

Snatching Yako's head from behind, he deftly yanked her off her feet and onto her back without hurting her even a little. Pain would not answer questions, and if she was already so scared, even Neuro knew it would be bad to add injury on top of that. Then he got down on his hands and knees over her and menacingly demanded, "And where do you think _you're_ going, mutant?"

Yako blurted almost instantly, "I just have to go to the store for something!"

"Perhaps your microscopic brain can't process this fact, but eating more will only make things worse," Neuro pointed out, almost happily. Hadn't she _just_ gotten home from shopping _all day_?? What could she possible need now that she hadn't already purchased?

His wife gave him a cold glare, which he promptly ignored, and said, "I'm not buying food, Neuro, I'm buying… an appliance."

He was beginning to lose his patience. Save that glare, Yako wasn't meeting his eyes. Her breathing was shallow; she was almost panting. So she was afraid, but she didn't want to tell him what of.

"What sort of appliance would this be, louse?" he pressed, irritation beginning to color his tone.

"It… the, um… the toaster is outdated, we need a new one."

Neuro's grip tightened on her head. Avoiding the truth was one thing, but _that_…

"You're lying to me, Yako," he said quietly, threateningly. "What are you trying to hide?" _What can't you tell me?_ Perhaps he found some way to make fun of her nine times out of ten whenever she confided in him, but at least he listened, and he knew that she knew that he really did care about everything she said.

Kneading her head in his fingers, Neuro realized his wife was trembling violently. Now he was worried, and utterly cross.

"You're shaking," he said aloud, as if to confirm it, his grip automatically loosening on her head. Yako's mouth was opening and closing like a fish's. Swift tears began leaking from the corners of her eyes as her gaze darted about wildly, looking anywhere but at his face. "And crying? What are you afraid of louse?" he demanded, angry at the amount of his own worry as well as Yako's fearful silence. "Are you injured? Do you _know_ what's wrong with you? Is the sprouting of extra intestines a common human disease?"

Relief shot through him as Yako gave a genuine laugh. If she could laugh at that then perhaps the situation wasn't so serious after all. But then what in the world was she crying so much for?!

"It's not a disease!" Yako exclaimed, and she sounded almost happy now. "There's nothing wrong! It's… It's… It's a miracle, Neuro!"

_Nothing_ wrong?? Miracle?? Now Neuro was so confused he didn't know where to begin. How could something that caused Yako so much fear be not wrong and a miracle to boot?

All Neuro could do for a moment was blink at the human. "Then what are you crying for, louse?!" he finally demanded.

He could almost see the gears working behind Yako's eyes. She was coming up with an answer, but whether it would be the truth at last or another ridiculous lie he wasn't sure.

"Well, I'm… I'm just happy!" the hysterical young woman cried. "I'm… we're… I'm… That heartbeat… It's not my heart that's beating Neuro," she said simply.

Well no duh, he'd known that from the beginning. But whether it was something she'd swallowed or something mutating, he didn't know. "You ate a beating heart?" he asked, attempting to pry the answer out of her through accusations. "Really, louse, eating bizarre filth like that…"

"_No_, Neuro, I didn't _eat_ anything, it's just…" Yako paused, biting her lip and avoiding his eyes again.

_Spit it out louse, what's wrong?!_

"It's a baby's heart. I'm…" She paused again, taking a deep breath, then said, "Pregnant."

Whatever thoughts were running through Neuro's mind at that moment had a complete train wreck. For a long moment, he couldn't process the word's that had just come out of his wife's mouth. Without feeling or even registering what he was doing, he stood up, turning away as Yako scrambled to her feet as well. The irregular little heartbeat which had seemed so faint and distant before was suddenly pounding in his head, making it impossible to form an intelligent thought. And then, just as suddenly, his thoughts were racing.

This was good. This was great! In all his hundreds of years, he'd never expected something like this to happen to him. Granted he hadn't thought about it too much (being a mystery devouring demon detective, before he left Hell for the surface, he had never been too good at making plans for a domestic lifestyle). But yes, this was very very good. Amazing. Wonderful. A miracle.

"Neuro!"

The demon whipped around, automatically snatching Yako's shoulders and pushing her up against the wall. His joy surpassed words, something odd for a demon to experience. He could see Yako was frightened, her previous ecstasy hidden behind new tears. But there was nothing to fear. He would show her.

Very gently, he placed his hands on her hips and knelt down before her, resting his ear against her stomach and just listening. There it was again, that sporadic, faint little beat, and he felt a strange warmth, very weak, against his cheek. That was his child in there, his little monster, whom he loved, as he had learned to love. With a quiet sigh, he planted a kiss on his wife's stomach and felt her relax against him. He didn't have to speak to let her know: it would be okay.

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**Please review!! ^_^**

**Also, I'm sorry the next episode of Tag is taking so long. Again, I've been insanely busy. But it's in progress, so at least before the end of this month there should be an update. D:  
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	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh, this took soooooo long... I'm really really sorry about that, I've been insanely busy with school and art and moving... yay... I'm so sorry again!! I'm still not completely satisfied with it, it feels... OOC-ish to me... I tried my best to make it in-character, but I don't know how well I succeeded.**

**Oh, and the POV changes randomly, it just seemed smoother to me, I didn't want to break it up with lines. :/ My reasoning: they're a married couple now, so they're thoughts should be more... in sync. Even if they're disagreeing, haha. 'Course, I'm not married, so I wouldn't know, but it just feels like what should happen. In my mind at least, haha...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro. If I did.... well.... *starts daydreaming*  
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If someone had told him while he was still in Hell that someday he would travel to the upper world, fall in love with and marry a human girl who could devour an entire buffet without being satisfied, and then that he would become a father, he would have laughed in their faces before subjecting them to some cruel torture for wasting his time with such a ridiculous story.

But that story, in fact, was a reality, and Neuro's reaction now was far different than what it would have been then. His poor human wife could hardly pin him down, he was so energetic with excitement. After listening to his child's heartbeat for several minutes, he'd sprung right into action, though what he was working at Yako could hardly guess.

"Neuro… what on earth are you doing?!" she finally demanded of him, watching as her husband began deftly rearranging the living room.

"There is a tradition in Hell when a child is expected," Neuro began, not looking up as he shoved the sofa up against the wall with a slight flick of the wrist. "The day the pregnancy is announced, the couple's family and closer friends come together to make sacrifices in the child's honor. There are also a variety of games that are played, and a feast-"

"_Sacrifices?!_" Yako exclaimed, her jaw dropping in shock and disgust. Oh no. No _way_ her husband was making some sort of demonic bonfire in the middle of _her_ recently remodeled living room!! And there was no way on earth _or_ in Hell she was letting him sacrifice _anything_ in her child's honor. Though, now that she thought about it, what he had described to her sounded, albeit vaguely, like a baby shower.

"Of course," Neuro answered. "Depending on the wealth and position of the family, of course. The more powerful they are, the more live demons are sacrificed. Their lives are believed to flow into the child when released from their bodies, adding power to it. Plus it makes for quite a show."

Sometimes Yako wondered why she'd ever fallen in love with this demon in the first place. The wicked grin on his face was making her physically ill.

"We are _not_ making any sacrifices to our baby Neuro," she said firmly. "Live or otherwise," she added, just for good measure.

Neuro paused, just about to move the other sofa out of the way. He looked up, spied Yako's serious face, and smirked.

"Nonsense," he replied. "You want our baby to be healthy, don't you?" He paused, then added, his voice darker and ever so slightly proud, "Do you realize how many live sacrifices there were when I was first conceived?"

"I shudder to think…" Yako mumbled. Neuro must have seen a greenish tint in his wife's skin and realized he'd gone a bit too far with his point, because he shrugged.

"But if you're set against it, I suppose there's nothing I can do against an abusive monster such as yourself," he sighed, beginning to move the furniture back into its proper place.

Yako flashed him a thankful grin and sat down on the newly replaced couch. "But if you really want to celebrate, I have an idea," she announced.

Her husband tilted his head at her, as if waiting for her to explain. When she didn't, he said simply, "Oh?" as if that would prompt her to elaborate. Yako just grinned more widely. Neuro could see the gears working behind her brown eyes.

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Yako gave up glancing at the clock as the hour grew progressively later and shifted her gaze back up to the dark ceiling. The edges of her mouth quirked as she thought of hers and Neuro's various arguments in the past. Whenever they had a particularly bad disagreement, Neuro would abandon their bed and stubbornly stick himself to the ceiling above her. All throughout the night he would stare at her from that spot with his piercing emerald glare and allow a disgusting string of acid drool to dangle from his mouth, sometimes letting it get so close that Yako could feel the air around her tingling. He never did let it fall, but it did it's job anyway, keeping Yako up all night, making her even more frustrated and bitter. By morning she would be an absolute wreck, and so exhausted that if the fight was Neuro's fault to begin with and he apologized (he, of course, wasn't tired in the least; he could still go for days with minimal sleep), she would let him completely off the hook so long as he promised her a good night's sleep. If the argument was her fault (which it almost never was), she would be too tired to argue any longer and would apologize herself. Either way, they would both go back to bed, their differences settled, and not reemerge from the bedroom until well into the afternoon or even night.

Yako's amused smile slowly melted away as her thoughts wandered on to other things. Her right index finger absently traced circles over her stomach as she wondered and worried about what was to come. She had been excited – no, entirely relieved and _overjoyed_ – when she realized that Neuro was so happy about becoming a parent. She could hardly contain her own excitement: there were so many plans to be made, her mother and friends to tell, things to do… But since she'd gone to bed, all the worries that had first gone through her mind had begun to seep back into her brain, choking her joy and excitement and replacing it with icy fear. She was afraid for herself, afraid for the baby, afraid of Neuro and of what would happen if something went wrong…

What if she couldn't nurture the baby like it was supposed to be? What if a human's body just wasn't compatible with a half demon child and the baby died? What if Neuro was disappointed in her? What if he left her?! But she couldn't possibly express these fears to Neuro, he was so happy!!

Swallowing hard, Yako didn't even notice her right hand start twitching as it moved in its continuous circle. Before she knew it, tears were pricking her eyes. This was wrong. She was supposed to be happy, _thrilled_. But all she could think of was what could go wrong. And there were so many things that could go wrong… Yako desperately wanted to love this child, but the absolute truth was that she was terribly afraid of it. She felt helpless and ashamed. If Neuro could read her thoughts right now, he would be so disappointed in her…

A large, spidery hand caught her twitching one and squeezed it lightly, stilling it. Yako sniffled in surprise as Neuro rolled over and kissed the corners of her eyes, wiping the tears away.

"You're making him dizzy," he whispered huskily, his bright eyes meeting her dark ones

Of course, he'd been awake the whole time, listening to her breathing grow steadily more shallow, and her hand as it disturbed the sheets with its circular motion. Even after so many years in the human world, and being married to a human, Neuro still had much to learn about the way humans thought and felt. But if he knew any human at all, he knew Yako, and he could make some pretty good guesses as to what she was thinking and feeling right then.

His words made Yako's breath catch. Neuro watched as reality dawned in her eyes, keeping the proud smile off his face with some difficulty. Now wasn't the time for what he thought or felt. Yako had to decide for herself.

"It… it's a boy?" his wife mumbled softly. Neuro just nodded, holding her gaze, his face empty of all emotion. A couple seconds ticked by as the human processed this new information. Then, to Neuro's relief, a small smile broke over Yako's face.

"I was making him dizzy? Really?" she asked, amused.

Neuro nodded again, this time allowing a smile to tug at the corners of his mouth. "He was following your finger."

New tears sprung up in Yako's eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her smile now a sad one.

Neuro took that as his cue to adopt the reassuring husband role that he'd perfected over the years. At first he'd refused to see any need of such a 'dishonest, underhanded' technique, but eventually he'd given in, realizing that sometimes even a tolerant human such as Yako required some genuinely positive attention, and not just steamy kisses and suggestive glances to reassure her. It had taken quite a bit of trial and error to figure out just when to pull it out, but eventually he'd become a master of this skill, and now was the perfect time to show it off. This time, however, he really, honestly meant it. Yako could tell, too. It had more of Neuro's prideful streak in it than usual.

"Who do you think I am, Yako? If I can't keep my little louse-wife safe, then nothing can. And you've never been hurt on my watch, have you?" He waited for Yako to shake her head in agreement before adding, even more seriously, "No matter what happens, I'm not leaving you. You married me, remember? You're stuck with me, no matter what you do to drive me away."

Yako chewed on her lip. Neuro was ready to go on, and she didn't want to interrupt him, but she blurted her thoughts out anyway. "What about the baby?!"

Neuro gripped her chin gently with one hand and stroked her hair with the other. "You are my first priority," he said firmly. "I won't let anything hurt you. Do you understand? _Anything_. No matter what."

Yako shook her head angrily, more tears falling down her cheeks. Neuro was setting aside his feelings for the child in order to protect hers. She knew what that meant, or what it could mean at least. She couldn't allow it. It was wrong. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. And it was her fault.

"I can't let you-" she began, but Neuro cut her off. His voice was tinged with anger.

"Is that what you think of me? Unless it's absolutely necessary, I won't do anything. If you're going to die, and there's no other choice... You're not leaving me here, louse, I'm not letting you go that easily."

They stared at each other for a long time, a battle of wills raging in their stares. In the end, neither of them won. Neuro's speech had turned out less than reassuring, and instead awakened new fears in Yako that she hadn't even thought of before. All this time, she realized, she'd been worried that Neuro had chosen the baby over her, and whatever happened to her or the child, it would be her fault. What was even more disturbing was that Neuro had done entirely the opposite, deciding to do anything to save _her_ life, even if it meant endangering their unborn son. Needless to say she was mad, more at herself than Neuro. She had overreacted, and now things were worse. But then it was _his_ fault for making such a rash declaration. It was so… so… inhumane.

_But of course, he wouldn't understand that,_ Yako thought bitterly, remembering all his talk about sacrifices and power, her own celebration plans seemingly dashed to pieces before her eyes. _Even now…_

Turning over to face away from Neuro, Yako again fixed her gaze on the clock. 3:42, and now she was angry. Yako could never fall asleep while angry, her mind was in too much of a whirl. She felt Neuro roll over to face away from her, and swallowed back the last of her tears. No silly tortures or tricks tonight, thankfully. They wouldn't help him this time…

Yako's hand started slowly tracing circles over her stomach again. She wondered if the baby was following her finger again, or if it – no, _he_ - had fallen asleep already. Or if he even slept, at such an early stage of growth. Or maybe he was angry too…

"I'm sorry…"

None of them got any sleep that night.

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**Author's Notes: Uh-oh, trouble is brewing.... :( It's kind of sad, this was supposed to be a fluffy chapter in the end, but instead it turned out angry and depressed... Wow, how am I gonna fix this... lol**

**Credit for Neuro's freakish baby shower idea goes to sakuramiko. Thank you so much for letting me use this idea, it was real fun! XD And I'm not done with it yet... *starts plotting terrible plots*  
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**Pleeeeeeeaaaaasee review. You have no idea how happy reviews make me. I could write a song about it if you need proof. :D Only not right now, I'm really tired... XD  
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	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes: Wow, this is a relatively quick update... you know... for me. Haha. I've just been getting a lot of cute little ideas lately, so I figured I'd put some of them to good use. I've actually started writing the next chapter as part of this one, but decided that they would be better separated. **

**I'm also happy to announce that I have solidified (well, mostly solidified) a plot for this story. And for those of you who read my other story, Tag, I'm so sorry for the lack of updates! I know where that one's going too, it's just the getting there that's the problem... *sigh* Anyways enjoy! And please please please review! They make my day, seriously. ^_^**

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Yako woke up around 12:30 the next afternoon thoroughly disoriented and grumpy. She'd finally fallen into a restless sleep just as the sun was rising over the buildings to the east and beginning to peak through the curtains. Neuro probably hadn't slept at all.

"Who cares…" she mumbled to herself, though she felt guilty as soon as she had. Twisting to face Neuro's side of he bed, she wasn't surprised to see it was empty. She'd learned from the start that Neuro was an early riser. He also had a thoroughly annoying habit of leaving the house without telling her – especially in the early morning - and almost always managed to get himself into trouble that _she_ would have to help him with later, when the situation, whatever it was, had become desperate. Yako knew for a fact he did it on purpose: her husband absolutely delighted in tormenting her, though thankfully he had laid off the physical torture he had put her through as a teenager – for the most part anyway. Sometimes Yako wondered if it would be worth all the aches and pains if she didn't have to _worry_ about him so much.

Rubbing her eyes slowly, still trying to shake off the sleep she'd finally been able to find what seemed not long enough ago, Yako sat up in bed. Her stomach growled loudly, and Yako cursed softly to herself. She'd missed breakfast, and nearly lunch too. No wonder she was in such an ill temper. Sleep deprivation came with the territory of being married to a demon who only needed a few hours of sleep every other week or so, but Neuro was wise enough to never interfere with Yako's monstrous appetite. She was scary when she was truly hungry, even to Neuro.

An hour and a full stomach later, Yako wandered back into the bedroom, still too sleepy to face the world yet. _Thank God it's a Sunday…_ she sighed to herself as she prepared to slide back under the warm blankets. That's when she noticed the shower was running behind the closed door to the bathroom. Neuro must have come home while she was eating, and hadn't wanted to face her after their disagreement earlier that morning. Yako nearly ignored his presence in a sudden surge of annoyance, but thought better of it. Odds are he'd gotten himself hurt again, and if not, she knew deep down that they couldn't ignore their argument forever. Better to face it now.

Yako stood for a while in front of the bathroom with her hand poised to knock on the door. She could always just go in: they were married for Heaven's sake and she knew for a fact Neuro wouldn't mind. But something stopped her. And that something wouldn't even let her knock. She knew Neuro had already sensed her presence and could just call her in, but that same something was stopping him as well.

Finally the human gave up and turned away, leaning her back against the door and allowing herself to slide down it into a sitting position. She could talk just fine from out here, and Neuro would hear her just as well. She felt like an idiot, guilty, and insensitive, even though she knew she'd been right in the end. Still, this was her fault from the beginning. If only she hadn't freaked out, Neuro wouldn't have felt the need to say such stupid, senseless things. Yako _knew_ she was right. But she'd also been the first one to be wrong. This was her fault.

_I'm such a masochist!!_ She hissed to herself, putting her head in her hands and shaking it slowly. _That's what you get for marrying a demon…_

"Neuro…" she finally blurted. She could still hear the water running, and though there was no other sound from inside, she knew he was listening. "I'm… I…" She took a deep breath, then let it out with her next sentence. "Idon'twantyoutoprotectme." She sighed again, realizing that had probably been the wrong thing to say, but she forged ahead anyway. _I'm the right one here, he'll understand…_

"I don't want you to protect me…" she said again, more slowly. "I don't think… I _know_ you won't have to protect me. I'll be- _we'll_ be… okay. We'll be okay." That last part made her smile a little, remembering what Neuro had said before they'd fought. No matter what she'd thought or felt before, they were in this together, all three of them, and especially the baby and herself. And in that moment, she genuinely felt love for her child, and she was just beginning to feel that it- _he_- loved her too. He would never consciously hurt her, and she could never allow any harm to come to him, no matter who was causing the harm.

"I'm sorry… to both of you… for freaking out before. I was being irrational. If I hadn't been afraid for no reason, Neuro, you wouldn't have had to say those things… So I'm sorry. I know we'll be okay now."

Saying it out loud really confirmed it in her heart, and she allowed herself to smile again – right before the door swung inward behind her and left her sprawled on her back on the hard tile floor of the bathroom. Neuro stood over her, dripping wet, wearing nothing but his boxers and blue jeans, his face completely unreadable. Yako blinked at him, waiting for his reaction, hoping it would be one of forgiveness and equal contrition. But knowing Neuro, she couldn't be sure. Contrition wasn't exactly a word in his vocabulary as far as she was aware.

"You don't know that."

Yako blinked at him again. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but that certainly wasn't it.

"Huh?" was all she could manage in response.

"You once told me that you would be okay… And I almost didn't believe you. The circumstances were more or less under your control, but there were thousands of factors to consider, thousands of things that could go wrong that would keep you from being all right. Thankfully you possess some small measure of common sense and managed to keep yourself alive until I came back." Neuro paused, staring at her, or into her, Yako couldn't tell. "This time, it's not up to you at all. There's nothing you can do. If something goes wrong, you'll be helpless to stop it. No blow you can dodge, no right or wrong decision you can make that will keep you out of harm's way, no room for common sense. You don't know if you'll be okay, and saying so is an outright lie. The _truth_ is that you _don't _know. _I_ don't know…"

Suddenly Yako realized the full extent of the damage she'd caused. Neuro hadn't been merely soothing her fears, he'd been trying to soothe his own as well. Fears _she _had planted in his mind. He'd been happy until she'd opened her big mouth, and now he was afraid as well. Her eyes suddenly welled up with tears. How could she be so stupid?!

"Neuro… I…" She chocked on her words as the tears started falling. "I'm so sorry…"

Neuro didn't move at first, just watching as his wife suffered on the floor. He didn't like the ache he was feeling in his chest at the sight, but he wasn't ready to forgive his wife – or himself - just yet. When she started hiccupping from the violence of her sobs, however, he sighed to the ceiling and dragged her off the floor. Swinging her into his arms with ease he slipped back onto the bed and held her to him while she cried even harder.

"Shut up louse…" he murmured into her hair, his voice gentle despite the words. "You're making a disgusting scene."

Yako hiccupped loudly. "Y-y-_you_ shu-ut up," she sniffled, and Neuro smirked. "I'm… s-sorry…" she said again, for what felt like the thousandth time.

Neuro kissed her hair and fell back against the bed so that she was lying on his chest. He rubbed his hands against her back in warm circles, calming her slowly but surely. Yako rested her head against her husband, willing herself to stop crying. It would be okay… It would be okay… It had to be okay…

"You'd better stop crying soon louse," Neuro warned. "You're upsetting him," he added.

"I'm sorry…" Yako murmured, promising herself it would be the last time. Wiping away the last of her tears, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, forcing herself to smile a little at Neuro. He smirked back, a genuine happiness that made her smile wider. She planted a kiss on his lips, and was about to pull back when he gripped her neck from behind and pulled her back down for a deeper kiss. His hands gripped her hair, trapping her mouth against his as his legs deftly wrapped around hers. Yako let out a squeal of surprise as he flipped her onto her back so that he was on top of her, never breaking their kiss. The demon's tongue licked her lips, bidding them open for him, and he was just putting a hand on her hips and fingering her tank top when she swatted him away and wriggled out of his grip.

"Not in front of the baby!" She giggled breathlessly. Neuro's emerald eyes lit up with real joy, and Yako felt her heart clinch and melt at the same time. Her husband smirked at her again and swooped in for a last kiss on her neck before flipping off the bed.

Determined to keep up his good mood, Yako sat up and asked suddenly, "So what should we call him?"

"Neuro Jr.," Neuro automatically replied as he rummaged through the dresser drawers for a shirt. The enormous black dresser stretched across half the wall and up half of it as well, all filled with Neuro's clothes. Yako, who was not nearly so obsessed with clothes, and especially not such outlandish or eccentric fashions as Neuro seemed to enjoy, got the closet, which was small compared to that mass of furniture. Neuro had designed it himself in one of his demonic bursts of creativity, and though Yako had forced him to tone down his design before they asked their old time acquaintance Ikeya Tooru to make it, he still had a very real fondness for it, just like his desk, Troy. Some things Yako would never understand, and she didn't mind it in the least.

Yako's mouth twitched with amusement at the name, but it didn't feel right, and she knew Neuro was only joking anyway. "No… it has to be unique, something like… something like…"

"Louse Jr.," Neuro cut in, pulling that blank grin his wife so despised.

"That's a girl's name, Neuro," Yako joked, making a face that clearly showed her disapproval of the suggestion.

They went back and forth for nearly an hour, but couldn't come up with anything. Eventually they gave up and Yako took a shower, realizing she really had to get something accomplished today, even though there weren't that many hours left in the day; it was now almost three.

* * *

"Neuro, I have a question…" she spoke up as she dried her hair and pulled a comb through the tangles.

"Hmm?" Neuro hummed from behind her, pulling the collar of her shirt back a little and kissing her neck softly.

Yako turned in his arms and looked him in the eyes. "How do demon babies develop? I didn't even think about it before, but my period started three days ago, same as always." She paused, waiting for him to digest the information and respond. When her husband remained quiet, she said, "So?"

"Don't panic, louse," Neuro ordered. Yako raised an eyebrow at him and pursed her lips.

"Okay, I'm calm. What is it?"

"In hell, it depends on the species of demon you're talking about," Neuro explained. "The… 'symptoms,' number of months the baby needs to develop, and the various traits of the child itself all differ from one species to another."

This time it was Neuro's turn to wait while his wife processed what he'd just said. He watched her eyebrows come together in a thoughtful frown, then shoot up in revelation, then come back down again in another frown.

"Wait, wait, wait a minute…" she said, stepping back from him and pointing almost accusingly. "You… you're a _bird_ demon, right?"

Neuro just nodded.

"And birds… come from… eggs…"

Another nod.

"So that means… so that means…"

Her eyes widened again as the words came out of her mouth, solidifying them into truth. "So that means that in however many month's time… I'm going to _lay an egg?!?!_" Her voice had almost reached a shriek by the end of the sentence. Neuro reached for her shoulders, but she turned away from him.

"I told you not to panic, louse," he reminded her, almost beginning to panic himself.

"Mammals don't lay eggs Neuro, in case you haven't noticed!" Yako spat, still not facing him, her voice harsher than it normally was when she was angry with him.

Neuro reached out again, then thought better of it. Yako was not happy with him, touching her would only make it worse. His wife's shoulders began to shake, she was holding her face in her hands, and muffled sobbing noises were coming through her fingers. "Are you that upset? Are you really…" He didn't want to have to say this word, even he couldn't deny that if hurt to think it might be true. "…Disappointed?"

Suddenly Yako threw her head back and laughed out loud. She hadn't been angry before, her voice had been strained by the laughter bubbling forward; she hadn't been crying either, she'd been struggling to contain her giggles. Neuro watched in shock as the woman before him laughed hysterically. She laughed until she was crying almost as hard, until her sides were nearly burning. When she finally contained herself she took one glance at Neuro to say something, and then fell into another fit of wild laughter.

Finally, she was able to calm herself enough to speak. She turned back to her husband and smiled brilliantly at him, her cheeks blushing deeply and her eyes shining with tears from her laughter. Wrapping her arms around his neck she leaned against his chest, still smiling into his shirt.

"Neuro… I've known you for eight years, and you've never once disappointed me. That's not even possible for you. From the very first moment I met you, you've been turning my world upside down, inside out, and backwards." She pulled back a little so she could look into his otherworldly, emerald eyes. "And I don't _ever_ want that to stop," she finished, her smile growing even wider.

She stood on her tip toes to kiss him, and he responded by wrapping his arms tightly around her waist and crushing her to him. They didn't come up for air until a few minutes later when Yako felt another wave of giggles coming on.

"What _is_ so funny, woman?!" Neuro demanded, releasing her with a puzzled smile.

"Everything!" Yako cried. "It's all so crazy, but it's all so wonderful, and I'm so happy, and I'm happy you're happy and… and…" Her stomach growled loudly. "And… I'm hungry again…" she sighed sheepishly. Neuro just smirked at her. Some things would never change.


	5. Chapter 5

**It's short, I know... And I sincerely apologize. But, to be honest, at least it's something. =_=**

**And honestly, I really like this chapter. I tried to make it lighter than the last few chapters, for one becaus****e, well, I got tired of writing angst, and secondly because it's more natural for me to write quirky, silly NeuYako fics, and I'm a comedy girl. I luuuurrrve comedy, and though I'm not that great at writing it, I like to at least try, haha. It's just... how they are. They're silly.  
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**That, and this is the first chapter with Godai in it, whom I love. And I was really happy he finally got a few moments for himself. XD**

**So yes, again I apologize for the length, but again, at least it's an update. At the moment, I can't even believe I'm updating this fic. It's been so looooong... DX**

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Yako sat staring at the phone, lost. Her brows furrowed, concentrating, then she sighed and went back to staring blankly at the phone. She wrung her fingers a little, frowned again, adjusted herself in her chair, took a few deep breaths, reached for the phone… and pulled her hand away again, sighing and going back to just staring.

Neuro glanced up from the newspaper, his eyebrow quirking with annoyance. Yako had been sitting there for a solid twenty minutes, and had yet to even _touch_ the phone, let alone grasp it, pick it up, and dial her mother's number into it. He was ready to walk over there and do it himself.

_"Hello there, mother dear. I know this is a bit late notice, but I'm a demon, and your daughter is now pregnant with the spawn of Hell. We're very excited, and we hope you are too. Won't you come see us before the baby arrives and the apocalypse begins? We would love to have you. Until later then, mother dearest."_

It sounded like an amusing idea to Neuro, and he was seriously considering putting it into motion when Yako let out a frustrated wail and threw her hands up in the air.

"Neuro! What am I supposed to tell my mother?" she moaned, slumping pathetically in her chair.

"Repeat after me: Hello there, mother dear. I know this is a bit late notice, but the man I married is a demon, and I'm now pregnant with the spawn of Hell. We're very excited, and we hope you are too-"

"NOUGAMI NEURO, THAT IS NOT FUNNY."

Neuro snickered as Yako glared daggers into him. "I'm serious here. If I'm laying an egg in God only knows how many months-"

"I estimate around two or three."

"-then I need to come up with a pretty good lie unless you want us to somehow explain that you're a demon and why, in that knowledge, I _still_ married you," Yako finished, still glaring. Then she blinked. "Wait, what did you say? Two or three _months?_" she ended with a shriek. "How am I ever going to explain this? Neurooooooo…" And with that, she flopped over on the table, making incomprehensible gurgling sounds Neuro could only assume were supposed to be words.

"Maybe we should just… not tell her?" he suggested carefully.

Yako just flopped about some more. Neuro took that as a no.

"Then perhaps we should consider telling her the truth," he said noncommittally, going back to his newspaper.

Yako sprang up in her chair so fast Neuro thought her head might fly off. "Are you NUTS?" she shrieked.

"Not even," Neuro replied dryly. "Consider the fact that we've been married for five years and I've yet to suck your organs out of your nose through a straw, brainwash you into doing my evil bidding, or drag you back to hell to have my pet monsters tear you apart while I watch and laugh. Or… whatever you humans assume we demons do with our mortal spouses."

Yako had turned a noticeable shade of green, but Neuro continued undeterred.

"My point is, I haven't harmed you, have I?"

"Well, if you want to be technical-" Yako began, but Neuro cut her off.

"Of course I haven't. I have been the most loving, loyal, affectionate husband any woman could ever ask for-" he ignored Yako's doubtful look "-and if your mother discovered I were a demon, she would have no reason to be upset, because I have given her no such reason in the eight years I've known you."

"That's she's aware of," Yako muttered. Neuro just grinned devilishly. "But I see your point. Still… I don't know."

"Then don't tell her."

"But I can't do that, this is her grandchild we're discussing!"

"Okay, then tell her."

Yako threw her husband a withering glare. "You are no help."

"I do my best, dear louse."

Defeated, Yako slumped over the table again. She had to tell _someone_, or it was going to drive her crazy… But no one except Godai knew about Neuro-

Suddenly, she sat up. "Godai!"

* * *

Godai flipped his pocket knife closed, opened it, flipped it closed, then opened it again. Besides the slight hiss of the knife opening and closing, the only other noises in the office were the ticking of the clock, and the soft _tap tap tap_ of Akane typing away on something in the other corner. Speaking of the clock, Godai glanced at his watch, and regretted it. 4:22 p.m.. He still had five and a half more hours before he could call it a day.

That morning he had been rudely awoken by a text message from _that demon_ ordering him to watch the detective office that day, Monday. Why in the world Neuro and Yako suddenly wanted a three day weekend was beyond him. It was surprising, really, that Yako would stand for something like this. She was the responsible, caring one who wouldn't ask him to watch the office on his own without giving him a warning beforehand.

With that in mind, Godai was hardly pleased when his cellphone rang and the caller ID informed him Nougami Yako was on the other end.

"What do you want?" he answered.

"Godai, how are you?" she asked. She sounded ecstatic, bursting with joy even. It only made Godai more irritated.

"How do you think I'm doing, locked up in this hole all freaking day?" he growled, jamming his open knife into an already developed crack in his desk.

"Oh… yeah, about that… I'm really sorry Godai, but I've just been… not feeling too good. But I have some really big news!"

"Oh yeah?" he shot back. "Like what?"

A long pause, then the woman practically shrieked in his ear, "I'm pregnant!"

It took Godai several long seconds to process this, and when he did, he went pale.

"**ARE YOU** (insert colorful language of your choice here) **INSANE**?"

And with that, he threw the cellphone down and it smashed into a billion pieces.

* * *

Yako hung up the phone. "Well, he took that well," she grinned.

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**Pweeeeeeeaaaaaassssssseeeee reviewwwww~ :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**HEY ALL. A REAL CHAPTER THIS TIME. ~ I'm happy. :D**

**I wrote this whole thing in one go, I'm so proud of myself. I just sat down, with the intent to write a new chapter, and I did it. This is a HUGE confidence booster, considering I haven't been able to finish much of anything lately when it comes to projects...**

**HUZZAH.**

* * *

_"… Hello, Katsuragi Haruka speaking."_

_"… H-Hi, mom?"_

_"Yako? Is that you? It's strange for you to call like this… How are you? Is everything all right?"_

_"Yeah, mom… yeah. I just have something to tell you. I-I… you know… Neuro?"_

_"… Of course I know Neuro, Yako. He's your husband."_

_"Haha, right, of course… Well… um… about him…"_

_"Yako, honey, are you sure everything's all right? You sound… scared."_

_"I just… I haven't exactly been honest with you. About… about Neuro. He's not… normal."_

_"… Okay?"_

_"He… He, uh…"_

_"… Is he gay?"_

_"…"_

_"I'm just checking!"_

_"No mom! No he's not gay! That's not it!"_

_*hysterical laughing in the background*_

_"Okay, then what is it? Spit it out, Yako!"_

_"He's a demon."_

_"A what?"_

_"A demon. From Hell."_

_"…"_

_"Mom?"_

_"… Hahaha, very funny sweetheart. April Fool's isn't for another three months."_

_"I'm serious, mom. He's a demon. He came to earth because he was looking for mysteries. He consumes them. That's why I started the Detective Agency in the first place. And now, well… I'm pregnant. But it's not going to be a normal pregnancy. I just wanted to tell you so you would be ready…"_

_"Okay, honey, this joke is really… well… okay, for lack of a better word, awkward. Did Neuro put you up to this? He's always pulling stuff like this…"_

_*more laughing in the background*_

_"Neuro, shut up! You're not helping! It's not a joke, mom! It's true!"_

_"Listen, Yako, I've got to go. I'm really busy. If you wanted to talk to me so badly… well, you could have just said so instead of… well, this. I love you. Bye."_

_"Mom, don't hang u-"_

_*CLICK*_

* * *

Yako started awake. Her heart was pounding, her thoughts a confused blur. It took her a long minute to realize where she was: in bed, wrapped tightly in Neuro's arms. She looked over at the clock without raising her head from her pillow. 1:54 a.m.. With a sigh of frustration, she turned over, facing Neuro, burying her face in his shirt.

"What's wrong, louse?"

Of course he was awake. Yako sighed again. She'd sooner forget the dream, but now that Neuro had asked her about it, she'd have to tell him. She sat up, and he followed suite.

"I just had a bad dream. I called my mom and told her I was pregnant and she thought I was being stupid… She laughed at me, and I think I might have actually freaked her out…"

Neuro eyed her suspiciously, like _she_ was the mystery-eating demon from Hell as opposed to himself. "You _did_ call her, Yako."

Yako blinked. "I did?" Suddenly the events of the day returned to her sleep-confused brain in a jumble. That's right… She'd called Godai and told him the news, and after his positive(?) reaction, she'd felt inspired and called her mother next. Her dream had been a mirror of reality. Her mother thought she was losing it.

A third sigh escaped her chest and Yako slumped forward, resting her forehead on her clammy palm. "Wonderful…"

"I thought so too," Neuro said cheerfully. "A most amusing conversation."

"Oh shut up, Neuro," Yako growled, flopping back on the bed and rolling over, turning her back to her husband. "This is your own damn fault in the first place, getting me knocked up…" Maybe that was a little mean, but she was in no mood for his jokes.

She felt him lay down beside her, and his arm snaked around her waist, pulling her into his chest. She could hear the mischievous grin in his voice when he hissed in her ear, "The pleasure was all mine."

Yako snorted a laugh in spite of herself, and quickly fell back asleep.

* * *

Her good mood had dissolved once more come morning. Yako kicked open the door of the Detective Agency at 9 a.m. with a steaming coffee in one hand and her purse in the other. Neuro followed her inside, a grin of delight plastered on his face. He was thoroughly enjoying his wife's brittle temper.

Godai seemed to be experiencing a similarly dark humor. He arrived at 10, took a step inside the door, threw a murderous glare at Yako (which she unwittingly returned) and an even more murderous glare at Neuro (which _he_ returned with a wolfish grin), then slumped to his desk and sat down behind it, immediately beginning to play with his knife. Akane, without any visible eyes, ears, nose, or mouth, could sense the tension in the room and shrank against the wall, typing away at her computer only when she was sure no one else was looking in her direction, and being careful not to let the keys click too loudly for fear of disturbing the icy silence.

They had no customers that day. Tuesdays were usually slow. It was for the best, anyway. Any customer who might have entered that room would have either been roasted alive by Godai's boiling fury, or frozen to death by Yako's icy aura. All three humanoids departed the Agency at 11 p.m. in silence. Yako's and Godai's tempers had sunk into the red, while Neuro was still happily buzzing about in the green.

Neuro and Yako had hardly entered their apartment, and Neuro had equally hardly closed the door behind them, when Yako picked up the closest inanimate object (which happened, unfortunately, to be a dining room chair) and hurtled it, with all her strength, as far as she could (which, happened, _fortunately_, to not be very far). It made no difference: the chair splintered against the floor with an enormous crash.

A shocked silence descended on the couple. If he had to be honest, Neuro would have to admit he had not seen that coming. Once he'd collected his scattered thoughts, however, he clapped.

"Throw another one. It'll give me a chance to redecorate again. I'll help you chuck the sofa across the living room if you don't think you can handle it yourself."

Yako whirled on him, meeting his expectant grin with a cold glare. "You… you… _you_…"

She looked as if she wanted to say something, to call him something, to do… well, _something_, but human speech and action had escaped her by now. Her teeth ground together, and she turned around, stalking away. The door of their bedroom slammed behind her.

Neuro waited for only a second before he followed, throwing the door open with a resounding crash that almost tore the door off its hinges. Yako had thrown herself face first onto the bed, but the noise made her jerk up. Neuro registered the tears on her face at the same moment that he sprang. Yako shrieked as he pounced on her, landing on the bed on his hands and knees above her. Before she could speak or even move to turn over, he grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her up, letting her dangle there like a doll in his grip. He met her red-rimmed eyes with his own glowing green ones and held them there for a long, agonizing minute. Yako was sure another second longer and they would pierce right through her soul.

Finally, her husband sighed. He never sighed. It startled Yako so much she suddenly hiccupped. There was a moment of silence, then she spoke.

"Are you… mad at me?"

Neuro was giving her that look, that look that he gave her on very rare occasions when he expected something specific from her, something he knew she could do that she might not know she could do herself. "I'm not mad," he said quietly. "I don't care how much of my furniture you destroy, lousewife. Actually, I rather enjoyed you throwing that chair…" He chuckled, and Yako let out an involuntary giggle, but then Neuro sobered and she clamped her mouth shut. He continued. "But you're not acting like your normal, pathetic, single-cell-brained, mortal self."

Yako lowered her eyes. That was Neuro-speak for 'I'm worried.' Unfortunately, she couldn't exactly help him. She didn't know why she was so angry. Of course the situation with her mother was frustrating, and Neuro's insensitivity only made things worse, but Yako had expected things to turn out the way they did, and God knew she was used to Neuro's behavior. She shouldn't be this riled up. Unless…

"I-I think it's just… hormones," she said sheepishly. Neuro looked confused, so she explained, "Mood swings are normal for pregnant women. I feel better now." And she did. Neuro had cleared her head, the angry fog was lifting. "I can't promise I won't throw any more furniture though. Not until the baby comes…"

Neuro grinned. "That's fine by me."

* * *

After that one violent incident led to Neuro compulsively replacing the entire dining room set instead of just replacing the one chair, Yako swore she wouldn't give the situation with her mother another thought. Katsuragi Haruka just needed time to see the truth, time Yako, at this point, felt more than happy to give her. The mood at the Detective Agency improved a great deal too. Godai still avoided Yako like she had the plague, but she merely ignored him. Neuro, for his part, enjoyed Godai's highly irritable mood to no end, and used it against the man every chance he could.

As for Yako's mood swings, she had less angry ones and more sad ones. If it was an unusually slow day at the office, she'd burst into tears at the drop of a hat. Neuro would cheerfully blame Godai, Godai would scream that it hadn't been his fault, and Yako would sob hysterically into Neuro's shirt. If there were no sales on Yako's favorite brands at the grocery store, she'd sink to the floor and cry until she had the whole store's staff in a frenzy trying to cheer her up. Neuro would only come to her rescue when the chaos had reached its peak (he'd been forced to begin accompanying her on her errands now; besides being more emotional, she'd also become excessively clingy, which he didn't mind… to a certain point).

Two weeks of this passed before the day that Yako, getting ready for work, pulled on a pair of dress pants and couldn't button them. She tried for a few minutes, but her efforts were futile. In the end, she went into the bathroom, stared at the mirror for a long moment, then, taking a deep breath, turned sideways, pulled up her shirt, and looked again. Sure enough, the flat line of her stomach had been replaced by an ever-so-subtle curve.

Yako took a few deep breaths to steady herself. For a long moment, she felt overwhelmed, like this was all happening too fast. Had that bump been there the day before? Well, by human definition, it _was_ going too fast. But she'd given up the 'human definition' five years ago when she married Neuro. Now it was time to put her resolve to the test.

Very slowly, and with shaking fingers, she placed her hand on her stomach. It felt abnormally warm, and a rush of fear ran through her, but again, she calmed herself with a few careful breaths. She knew the creature inside. It was her own, and it was Neuro's. She knew Neuro. She didn't have to be afraid.

Yako kept her hand pressed to her stomach for two very long minutes, and then, suddenly, she felt it. Something moved, pressing against her hand, and the warmth increased. It stayed there for a couple seconds, then disappeared. A tear escaped her eye.

"Neuro!" she screamed, running out of the bathroom in nothing but her dress shirt and underwear. He came into the doorway of their bedroom from the living room, and she nearly tackled him, throwing her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and clinging to him, crying freely now. She kissed his surprised lips and his jaw and his neck, and any other part of him within kissing distance. When she finally pulled back, he gave her a look that said, "I-knew-you-would-crack-someday-but-I-didn't-realize-it-would-be-this-soon." Yako didn't care. She kissed his lips again, this time holding him there, and somehow, _somehow_, with an instinct that only a human could have, he knew. He _knew_.

He kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer, minding her stomach. They didn't come up for air for a long, long time, but when they did, Neuro smiled. Really _smiled_.

"I'm excited," he panted, his eyes glowing. The only other time he'd uttered such a human phrase was the first time he told Yako he loved her. She let out a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

"I'm excited too."

* * *

If either of the lovebirds had cared to look up at that moment, they would have seen the corner of a shadow disappear from the window.

"_I'm excited, too~"_

* * *

**Ooooh, what's this? A plot is emerging? I know, I'm just as shocked as you are! REVIEW PLEASE.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Been a while, hasn't it? I'm very sorry, and also very touched that this story has still been getting steady reviews. 100+ reviews? You guys rock hard core!**

* * *

Two days of bliss passed between Yako and Neuro after her discovery… and then the hunger set in.

Neuro teased her over it mercilessly. He swore he couldn't tell the difference between her ravenous hunger now, and her usual gluttony, but Yako knew he was exaggerating. Never in her life had she been so hungry that she had to eat _constantly_. They decided to allow Godai to watch the office on his own so that Yako would be in a bit more comfort.

Every minute of every day, Yako had something in her mouth. Anything and everything that was in the fridge was gone in a matter of hours. As a joke, Neuro blocked her way to the pantry and the fridge, and handed her a newspaper instead. When she actually started eating it, and then started choking on it, he regretted his little prank and had to try to yank it back out of her mouth. In the bitter struggle that followed, Yako bit his hand twice, and still swallowed half the paper.

The most bizarre part was that, besides her growing belly, Yako wasn't gaining any weight, which could only mean that most of the food she was consuming was going to the baby.

"It makes sense," Neuro said, massaging his tooth-mark ridden hand. "The baby's growth is accelerated times ten. Human women already have bizarre food cravings during pregnancy, right? This is just the exaggerated form that you get to deal with."

"Yeah, thanks, Neuro," Yako mumbled sarcastically between bites of carrot cake.

"Don't worry louse, I still love you. Even if you've developed the personality of a vacuum cleaner…"

"Hey. You. Carrying _your_ child here. He gets his outrageous appetite from _you_."

Neuro just rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of which, what should we call him?" Yako asked. She'd been going over names in her head since she'd first come to terms with the fact that she was pregnant, but nothing had sounded good…

"Neuro Jr."

Yako glowered at him, taking another huge bite of carrot cake. "I told you, Neuro. _No_."

"Then I've got nothing."

"You are _so_ much help."

"I try, my dear dishrag. I try."

Thanks to Yako's monstrous hunger, Neuro was threatened with having to go to the grocery store every day. It was far too risky for Yako to be around grocery stores now, thanks to her monstrous cravings. But Neuro refused flatly. "Humans can call for food delivered to their houses, can't they?"

"They couldn't fit my order in a moving van!" Yako argued. But in the end, Neuro would not go shopping, for reasons he would not disclose, so Yako was forced to survive on takeout. Very quickly, they became the bane of the nearby fast food joints, who ran out of supplies for a day with just one order by Yako. After a week of this, news stations began to investigate. Deeply ashamed, Yako convinced Neuro to give up the takeout idea. She didn't want people snooping around in their private life and finding out things they shouldn't, such as her husband's connection to the underworld.

"You have to go to the store now!" Yako said, with an air of victory.

Neuro eyed her slyly, his green eyes shining and his toothy grin spreading from ear to ear, a look that would have caused anyone but Yako to wet themselves with fear. Yako's smile just faltered. "Do I now?"

His wife opened her mouth to insist that he did, but Neuro quickly turned his back to her, marching into their bedroom. He came out only a second later with a small book in his hand. He handed it to Yako, and though she really didn't mean to, she automatically brought it up to her lips, and would have chomped down on it had Neuro not snatched it away from her.

"Don't eat it, stupid louse!" he scolded, opening the book for her and holding it a safe distance away from her face. "_Absorb_ it."

Now that the book was open, Yako saw what it was. A puzzle book. Neuro had taken a liking to them while they were on their honeymoon and couldn't be at the office to take cases. Since then, he'd kept them around as little snacks in between large cases. Since Yako's pregnancy had started taking its toll on her, he'd begun living off of them in order to be close to her in case she needed him.

The page he showed her was a rather complex crossword puzzle. Yako squinted at it, then raised an eyebrow at Neuro, confused. He pointed at the page. "_Look_ at it, Yako. I trained you better than to be beaten by a page in a book."

Yako was still confused – and worse than that, she was bitterly hungry now – but she turned back to the page, frowning at the clues for each word. "Griffith of boxing? Some simians – oh, apes! Um… Term of address in colonial India? What? Neuro, I can't-"

"Just do it," Neuro said. He sounded really exasperated, and almost urgent, so Yako closed her mouth and looked at the puzzle again. After several minutes of quiet concentration and confused frustration, she began to piece together the puzzle. As she fit the last letters together, she realized something extraordinary. She was no longer hungry. Her eyes met Neuro's, and she could see from the look on his face that he'd been testing a theory, and now saw the answer in her reaction.

"Neuro, you don't think that…"

"I think you know what I think, louse."

"But if he… then that means…"

"Correct. Our son eats mysteries as well."

Yako sighed. "Why am I not even a little surprised?"

"However," Neuro continued, "the fact that you were able to consume so much horrific human food without regurgitating the lot of it means that he is also able to receive nutrients from it. It's just not as effective as a good puxxle. The same as myself, I suppose." He seemed quite taken with the idea. Yako had to swallow her disappointment. Was this child going to be like her at all?

At the end of a week, Yako's stomach had gone from a nearly invisible bump to a decent-sized swell. She had horrific back pain, and lesser aches and pains everywhere else, though, to both their great relief, a puzzle every hour or so took care of her hunger. After a few days, she'd stopped eating human food all together. This worried Neuro at first, though he dared not show it, but when he saw that his wife seemed almost better off that way, he disregarded his former reservations.

"I should have known that you were a mystery demon in disguise all along," he would joke with an amused grin. Yako ignored him on the outside, but on the inside she regarded it as a very high compliment, especially coming from Neuro, and stored it away in the happiest corner of her mind.

Despite how well the puzzle books were working for Yako, the constant diet of mini mysteries was taking its toll on Neuro. Yako could see it in his eyes, a dimmer green than she'd ever seen them before, and in his skin, already so pale, now nearly translucent. He hid it from her, as all men hide their wounds, but she knew him too well to be deceived. Still, she knew what sort of reaction she would get if she voiced her concern, and so she stayed quiet about it untilthe night she saw him slip one of the triangular clips out of his hair and grind it into bits with his pointed teeth. He had tried to hide it behind his hand, but Yako saw it. Worse, she _felt_ it. It was like a wave coming off the explosion of a grenade, a sudden heat and feeling of energy passing through her that it almost knocked her sideways off the bed. She sucked in a breath, and she could smell it in the air and taste it with her tongue, a spicy odor that sent her into a fit of sneezes. Never had she experienced a reaction to Neuro's clips, but this time, no doubt thanks to the baby, she couldn't easily get over the feeling.

Neuro swallowed the pieces of the clip and looked over to make sure she wasn't suddenly ill. As soon as Yako could speak again, she stuttered, "Ne-Nuro… you have to find a new case."

"Don't be stupid, dishrag," he replied automatically. "Why on earth would I do that?"

He was staying home to watch after her and the baby. Yako knew it, even as she knew that he would never say it. She appreciated it, yes, and it made her feel one-hundred times safer, but she wouldn't sacrifice Neuro's health that way, especially when it was, in its own way, so fragile.

"It's been weeks since you've had one, Neuro. I can tell…" That had been the wrong thing to say. Neuro stiffened at her suggestion of his weakness.

"I am fine, Yako," he said, in a tone that suggested that the conversation should end there. Yako would not be deterred.

"It's not that… I didn't mean to say that you were… Neuro, you've never gone so long without a case. And Godai watching the office every day on his own? He hasn't had a day off since we told him about the pregnancy. That's not all right, Neuro."

"Nonsense-"

"It isn't nonsense!" Yako insisted. "You should go back. I'll be all right here-"

His eyes turned to look at her, though the rest of his body was perfectly still. "You are awfully confident. You have no idea what to expect each and every day, and you have the nerve to say that you'll be all right. Don't make me promises that you cannot keep, Yako. You know how that… irritates me."

Yako frowned at him, her brown eyes flashing. He really was hungry, his mood souring by the moment. "Neuro-"

"If you're really so determined to get me out of your sight, then I'll sleep on the couch," Neuro sniffed. But he didn't leave the room. Instead, he jumped up onto the ceiling, settling himself right above her so that she could see him better than before, his eyes narrow with annoyance. Yako sighed.

"Neuro-"

He closed his eyes, pretending to sleep. Yako growled to herself and threw his pillow at him. It hit him full in the face, but he didn't respond. She threw her own pillow, which he caught and tore into pieces with his purple claws, sending stuffing flying everywhere, his eyes still closed.

"NEURO!"

She got no response, and she knew that she wouldn't for the rest of the night, so she settled back on the bed, grumbling insults under her breath. Despite her anger, she was asleep in a half an hour.

When she woke up the next morning, Neuro was gone, and a new pillow rested under her head. Yako searched the whole apartment, but she couldn't find him. In the end, she went back to bed and cried into her new pillow for an hour, her back hurting worse than ever. At the end of an hour, she was rudely interrupted by a sudden movement beside her on the bed. Startled, she leaped to her feet, scrambling back from the bed. The sheets writhed, something long and slender underneath moving around. Yako bit her knuckles to keep from crying out.

"I've been waiting for a chance to talk to you alone," a garbled voice spoke up, causing Yako to jump. A small head, smashed flat and wrinkled like a pug's face, poked out from under the covers. It kept coming, suspended on a long, snake-like body with mismatching legs sticking out of either side. The creature was covered in puke-yellow scales, and when it had wriggled all the way out from under the sheets, Yako was horrified to realize that, if it stood on its back legs, it would be taller than her. Her stomach churned as it crawled like a centipede along the ground towards her.

"What do you want?" Yako shrieked, backing up against the wall.

"Oh, don't be afraid, ma'am," the creature said, its wrinkled, ugly face stretched into a grimace that was apparently supposed to be a smile. Yako's heart stopped. The creature had razor-sharp teeth. "I only wanted to congratulate you."

Yako's hand went to her swollen stomach immediately, protectively. He must mean the baby. But how did he, how _could_ he know that the child was that of a demon, and even more importantly, why would he care enough to visit the human world to say… congratulations?

"Why did you want to talk to me alone?" she asked. She was pressed up against the wall as far as she could go, and the creature was still advancing.

"Oh, Neuro wouldn't like it," the creature said cheerfully. "He's always been very private. It took us forever to find out that he had married a human girl. You can imagine we've been watching closely ever since, waiting for… and now here he is." Yako was confused, but the creature seemed beside himself with giddiness.

"You've been… watching us?" she squeaked. "You, and who else?"

"Oh, the entire guard! It is our job."

"Guard?" Yako repeated, alarmed. So a small army of demons had been watching them since she and Neuro had been married? Yako was now certain she would be sick.

The creature finally noticed the greenish tint to Yako's skin. "Oh! Oh dear… Did you not know, then? Oh, I shouldn't have said anything… I shouldn't have come…" He paused in the middle of the floor, to Yako's great relief, and started to back away. "I should go, before he returns…"

Yako opened her mouth to heartily agree when the door to the apartment slammed open. The worm demon disappeared with a pop, making Yako scream with surprise. Neuro was in their bedroom doorway in an instant.

"Yako?" He saw the sickly shade of her skin and the terror in her eyes, and was able to catch her as her legs gave way beneath her and she fell over.

"I-It… It… That thing… It was so gross!" Yako shivered, her lip trembling. Neuro looked alarmed, then confused.

"What thing? What are you talking about?"

Yako opened her mouth to explain, then froze. He… couldn't smell it? He couldn't sense it? Neuro could always sense when something was amiss. His senses _guided_ him like the instincts of an animal, almost controlling him. If he couldn't smell the thing that had sat where he did now on the carpet, then that must mean that the demon that had paid Yako a visit, as well as the others that had been watching them for years, were much more powerful than her husband.

Before Neuro even had a chance to demand that his wife explain why she looked ready to have a heart attack, Yako passed out.


End file.
